My family is my ministry and this life is my calling. I'm trying to turn this ordinary responsibility into an extraordinary opportunity!

It's not quite a quiver full, but it's a start!

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Why You Should RESPECT The SAHM

We are financial wizards. Anyone who throws out the argument that stay at home moms do it out of an abundance of financial blessing has probably A) never met a stay at home mom beyond the streets of Manhattan and B) has never tried to raise a family on one income, no matter how "generous" that income may appear. Despite the fact that my father's income is easily 5x that of my husband's I watched as my mom clipped coupons, as they took simpler vacations, as they lived in a nice yet modest home. They may not have to make the "drastic" sacrifices my husband and I have to make, but I certainly do not underestimate the cost of these sacrifices to them. Stay at home moms are savvy, smart business women who manage their homes more efficiently than most larger companies and *cough* the government have been able to do.

We buy used, we swap with other moms, we grow our own food, we sew our own clothes, we school our own children, we decorate our own homes, we plan our own parties, we make all our own meals, the list goes on and on. Now I am well aware that not every single stay at home mom does every single one of these things. But in the areas we don't do it ourselves we still find smart and money conscious ways to get it done. We are more on top of economic and environmental problems than any large business. We are self-sufficient leaders of our villages and we will be able to survive off the grid if needed.

We are growing healthy, happy, well rounded children. We pay attention to everything that is being poured into our children. We make sure they get the best nutrition, are well-educated, and that their social calenders are well-rounded. We can recognize illness like any medical professional and we can recognize changes in mood or emotional damage easier than any psychologist. We may not have a degree, but we are specialists in people and what it takes to grow them and to grow them right. We don't need anyone else to tell us about our children because we know our children better than anyone. We don't need "specialists" to teach us any preventative measures to make sure our children are healthy and happy, that is our job, that is what we do every single day.

We don't sit on the couch all day watching soaps while the kids lay around in sugar comas or are locked in their rooms. We also don't spend every hour of every day cleaning our house to spotless perfection while are children sit in front of the electronic babysitter watching videos designed to make them smarter. In fact, if I get to sit down at all in a day it is a miracle. We can go from the library to the park to the zoo to a playdate all in the span of one day. Our children are learning in the time they spend with us, they are playing in the time they spend with us, they are enjoying the time they spend with us. We are teachers, we are best friends, we are mommies.

We spend ninety hours a week nurturing little humans to grow into mature, responsible, loving, successful adults. We raise future doctors, lawyers, and teachers. We raise future mommies and daddies and grandmas and grandpas. We raise children who respect authority because we have provided them an authority to respect. We raise children that are confident because we have shown them they are worth more than anything else in the world to us, that are self-sufficient because we have modeled it for them, that are free thinkers because they see us having to go against the grain each and every day. We raise inventors, scientists, chefs, zookeepers. We raise children who feel like they can be and do anything that they want to do because they see us doing what it is that we want to do each and every day.

We don't pour 40 hours a week into some company that has no personal relationship to our lives. We don't have a job that just pays the bills. We pour each and every hour of each and every day into a job that can change the world one tiny human at a time. Ninety hours is a modest estimate of the amount of hours we work during the week. We don't get lunch breaks, we don't get vacation days, we don't get sick days, and we don't complain about that. We don't live life for the weekend, we live life for each day and we actually enjoy it.

7 comments:

Nothing, NOTHING is more important than raising tomorrow's leaders. It is so important. We daren't leave it to someone else. We mustn't leave it to someone else. I loved this post. The Mommy Calling is the best and most important of all! Thank you for sharing on NOBH.

I just found your blog at NOBH! Right away, I loved your opening title of turning an "ordinary responsibility into an extraordinary opportunity" ! That says it all so well, and is an encouragement for those days when we're at home with the kids and missing out on the miracle right under our noses. Thanks for refreshing my spirit today!Blessings, Ann

Amen to that! I am surprised that in this age that SAHM's still get a bad rap. The more I watch the stay at home younger moms at church raise their children and homeschool them, the more in awe of them I am.

I get frustrated and annoyed at other people as well that put down SAHMs. It happens a lot and I think a lot of people don't even realize they are doing it only to make themselves feel better that they chose to go to work instead. They say things like if you put your child in daycare they will be looked after better coz they went to school to learn how to raise kids. The kid will be smarter if they go to daycare and my fav you will appreciate the moments more if you go back to work. Even though I spend 24\7 with my son I appreciate ever little moment every day!! He is a great, smart, physically advanced, well rounded toddler.

Well,I know lots of people who spend way too much time criticizing stay at home mothers. If they have such illustrious careers, then why do they have time to care if some woman stays home with her kids? It simply does not affect them at all, so why would they care? The only conceivable answer is that they are jealous.

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you found encouragement and joy from my posts. I would love to hear what you have to say! It is my responsibility to make sure all of the content is uplifting, respectful, and true. Any comments that are viewed as personal attacks, false accusations, and any use of profanity will not be tolerated. Thank you, and please leave a comment that I will be able to post so others can be encouraged through your words as well!

Love never fails!!!

Proverbs 31:10-12, 25-31

Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. The heart of her husband safely trusts her; so he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life. Strength and honor are her clothing;she shall rejoice in time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness. She watches over the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all. Charm is deceitful and beauty is fleeting but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates.

He will bless the fruit of thy womb...

Deut. 7:13

Titus 2:1-8

Speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine. That the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things -- that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands that the word of God may not be blasphemed. Likewise, exort young men to be sober-minded in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you.

Ezekiel 36:26-27

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

Psalm 127:3

What did you do today?

Today I was an explorer. I went on adventures to see the wonderful secrets of God's creation. I watched as the birds flew across the sky, listened as the wind blew through the trees, and felt the warmth of the sun upon my face. Today I was a chef preparing gourmet four-course meals the likes of which the finest restaurants have never seen. Today I was a teacher conducting experiments, revealing hidden truths, and watching the amazement of these lessons being learned for the first time. Today I was a student, a doctor, a friend, a performer. Today I was a MOM. And tomorrow I get to do it all over again!

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May I decrease as HE increases!

My Hope For You

My hope for you, my fellow mommies, is that you will go throughout your day encouraged by successes, challenged by failures, and thankful for your experiences. That you will learn to thank God in the bad as well as the good, that you will use the powers of the Holy Spirit to become the best you can be, and that you will live your life according to the purpose you were given when you were created in the image of God Himself. May you find encouragement here so you can face the hardships of being a mom, a wife, and an imperfect person trying to live purposefully in an imperfect world, with grace.